Safety fluorescent lamp guard for closed end reflectors



April 30,1946. c. E. FOSTER SAFETY FLUORESCENT LAMP GUARD 'FOR CLOSED END REFLECTORS Filed June 5, '1944 0M 17''. mm

INVENTOI.

Patented Apr. 30, 1946 UNITED STATES" PATEN T ,OFFICE c LAMP GUARD FOR CLOSED END REFLECTORS Charles E. Foster, Los Angeles, Calif. Application June 5, 1944, Serial No. 538,734 I (Cl. 240-102) 4 Claims.

v able manner than has ever been heretofore accomplished.

2. An elongated adjustable guard adapted for mounting upon a reflector containing one or a plurality of fluorescent lamp tubes wherein the ends of the reflector are closed; said guard including two longitudinally I of which has a hooked end portion and at its opposite end :a keeper portion which surrounds.

the other strip, thereby producing a two-part longitudinally extensible clip which maintains itself in the selected position, the hooked end portion being constructed and arranged to engage the beads of the reflector not only to support the guard in-a position to arrest the fall of superjacent lamp tubes supported by the ends of the reflector but also to in cooperation with the ends of the reflectors to maintain the arrested fallen tube within the conflnes of the reflector without being subject to still further fall.

The invention includes, not only the combination of the guard with the lamp reflector strucoverlapping strips each p it being understood that ture, but also the guard itself as a new article of manufacture.

It is a still further object to continue in certain respects to carry forth the objects and features outlined in my co-pending application for Safety fluorescent lamp clip, Serial Number 503,245; filed September 23, 1943, and which resulted in Patent #2,350,600, dated June 6, 1944.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing wherein is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention as now reduced to practice,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device as applied in actual practice to a fluorescent lamp tube reflector having closed ends.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device per se,

' and Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the invention is shown embodied in an adjustable, twopart wire guard 5 which in Fig. 1 is shown applied to a conventional fluorescent lamp reflector 6 of the closed end type to safeguard the lamp tubes 1 by v preventing said tubes from falling and breaking in case either end portion of either tube becomes disengaged from its supporting socket. Said reflector 6 has downwardly directed closed end walls 612 and downwardly directed side walls Said guard or clip 5 is shown as consisting of twin, resilient wires 8 and 9. After being cut to the correct length while in a straight condition each of thesewires is bent back upon. itself at its midlength, then the doubled back midlength portion of the wire is formed into the round- 'nosed hook or laterally deflected loop I l, the two sides or runs of the hook thus formed being spaced apart the right distance to form a suitable keeper and to admit between them, with a working fit; the two wire runs of the other clip. Next each of the two partly formed clips has its wire runs l2 and I3 welded together at M at a properly spaced distance from the end thereof opposite to its aforesaid hooked or looped end, v at this time the two free end portions of each wire are straight throughout their terminal portions. Next the welds l5 (one of which is shown in Fig. 3) are applied to weld the two runs of each wire together adjacent to its hooked part I I. 'As a result of these welding operations the two runs of each of the doubled over wires will bow slightly away from the other, as shown in Fig. 3. The two wire units of the clip are then fitted together and appear as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 except that the hooks, next described, have not as yet been formed in the free end portions of each wire.

The final operation in constructing the guard consists in making the spaced apart hooks H with which each wire unit is provided, the hooks having diverging shank portions I B. In this last step of the guard-forming operation, the free wire ends are simultaneously spread apart a suflicient distance to create the desired span, this being done at the same time that the hooks proper, which grip the reflector beads 19, are directed toward the produced axis of the two assembled wire units.

It is to be understood that other longitudinally overlapping strips than wires may be extensibly fastened to each other to form the guard,-

indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2 and 3 till the hooks at the opposite ends of the device are sufficiently far apart to enable the operator to aption of except that 2:; c proximately apply them to the beads IQ of the reflector, and by contracting the length of the device bring said hooks back into a firm gripping relation to said beads. When said hooks are in such applied positions, owing to the bowed character of the wire runs of each Wire unit (8 or 9) a frictional resistance is produced against any elongation of the device that might cause it to become detached.

The shank portion 18 of the hooks 'l-l should be of the proper length and degree of downward inclination to support the intervening bridge portion of the applied device about an inch below the superjacent lamp tubes I.

In the operation of the guard, in case either of the tubes 1 becomes detached at one end from its supporting socket,

device as a lamp tube.

such end portion of the tube will-drop downa short distance only until the midlength portion of the tube engages the guard 5 and the tube'is thereby arrested against falling. farther because th closed end. wall 612 of the reflector at the detached end of. the tube will arrest its sliding longitudinally. v

If a .lamp tube becomes dislodged and drops upon the bridge portion of the applied guard, if the weight thus applied to the intermediate porthe device bows it slightly downwardly, a compensating upward deflection of the hooked end portions of the device will result cause the hooks i1 more firmly to grip the beads What is claimediis:

1. In a device of the kind describedthe combination with a lamp re rector having downwardly directed side and end walls with lamp tube holders carried by said end walls and beads formed along the lower edges of said side walls; of an elongatedguardconsisting of a pair of con- .nected resilient strips which overlap each other which will i and which keeper within which the other strip has a working fit, the two runs of each wire being welded together adjacent to the keeper formed therein and also adjacent the point where said wire runs diverge, said wires between the first said welds being bowed outwardly.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 and, said hooks being constructed and arranged to engage said beads and thereby support said guard with the. aforesaid overlapping portion of the wires thereof at a higher level than the hooks carried by them. 3. As an article of manufacture, a pair of connected resilient strips which overlap each other are longitudinally extensible in relation to each other, each of said strips carrying at theend. thereof which overlaps the other strip a keeper within which the other strip has a working fit, each ofsaid strips consisting of a wire the midlen'gth portion of which is doubled back upon itself, 7 the keeper portion of each strip being formed by laterally deflectingand looping the wire thereof so that it surrounds, at the place where it is bent back, the two runs of the other wire, said two runs of each wire between keepers being bowed outwardly, that end of each strip which is opposite to its said keeper being furnished with means to connect it with a support, said connecting means being constructed and arranged to engage said support and thereby maintain said strips which overlap each other at a higher level than the means which connect them to the support.

4. As an article of manufacture, an elongated guard consisting of a pair of connected'resilient strips which overlap each other and are longitudinally extensible in relation to each otherjeac'h of said strips consisting of two wireruns-in asideand are longitudinally extensible in relation to each other, each of said strips consisting of two wire runs in a side-by-side adjacent relation to each other throughout the length of the strip in a hook, the device thus being furnished with {our hooks all of which open or are directed toward the same side thereof to engage said beads; and thereby support said guard in a position to arrest the fall of superjacent lamp tubes supported by' said reflector, each of said strips carrying at the end thereof which overlaps the other strip a at the end portions thereof said wire runs diverge from each otherand each terminate by-side adjacent relation to each other throughoutthe length of the strip except that-at the 'end portions thereof said wire runs diverge-from each other and each terminate in a hook, the device thusbeing furnished with four hooks all of which open or are directed toward the same side thereof, each of said strips'carrying at the end thereof which overlaps the other strip a keeper within which the other strip has a working fit, the two runs of each wire being welded together adjacent to the keeper formed therein and at the point where said wire runs diverge, said wires between welds being bowed outwardly.

CHARLES E. FOSTER; 

